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Canada got the last hurrah at the Celebration of Light Saturday evening, closing the three-night event with a winning display. Canada was declared the winner of the event, with Brazil and China finishing second and third, respectively.

Fists fly and tempers flare as Canucks take shootout win over Flames

Brawl-filled game started with a bang and ended with fireworks

VANCOUVER. JANUARY 18 2014. Vancouver Caucks head coach John Tortorella gestures to Calgary Flames players on their bench in the first period of a regular season NHL hockey game at Rogers Arena, Vancouver January 18 2014.

Photograph by: Gerry Kahrmann
, Vancouver Sun

VANCOUVER – Why play hockey when you can fight, settle old scores, create new ones and, generally, make fools of yourselves before a national TV audience on Hockey Day In Canada?

The Vancouver Canucks and Calgary Flames tore a page Saturday straight out of Slapshot and the 1970s with a line brawl to start the game and a coach – the Canucks' John Tortorella – trying to storm the opposition's dressing room at the conclusion of a ludicrous opening period that saw the Canucks and Flames combine for 178 penalty minutes.

Oh yes, the Canucks actually won the game, too, 3-2 in a shootout no less as Chris Higgins netted the winner in the fifth round of the shootout. The victory snapped a three-game losing streak and was just the Canucks' second in the last 10 games (2-5-3). Yannick Weber also scored in the shootout while the Flames' Joe Colborne beat Roberto Luongo on Calgary's first attempt before Luongo shut the door.

“We found a way to win,” said Tortorella. “It was an ugly situation with not many players playing, it was the fourth game in six nights, but we hung in there. We were down a couple of times. Weber comes through with a big power-play goal and then we get it done in a shootout.

“Obviously the most important things are the two points. That's a good win for us. Not that other stuff but just finding a way to win in that type of circumstance. We can talk about a lot of different things but it's about trying to get two points and I'm very happy with our club and how they stuck together and found a way to get two points.”

Saturday's nonsense began at the 0:02 mark as all 10 skaters paired off and began fighting after Flames coach Bob Hartley decided to start his fourth line and Tortorella countered with his.

Heavyweights Tom Sestito and Brian McGrattan dropped their gloves first, at least in the eyes of referees Dave Jackson and Kyle Rehman, and were given five for fighting and 10-minute misconducts but were allowed to stay in the game.

The remaining eight players weren't as fortunate and all were thrown out for secondary altercations. The bouts featured Kevin Bieksa versus Ladislav Smid, Jason Garrison against Chris Butler, Dale Weise versus Blair Jones and rookie Kellan Lain with Kevin Westgarth. It was Lain's NHL debut and it lasted just two seconds. Garrison's fight was just the second of his career.

Tortorella explained his decision to start his fourth line was a reaction to Hartley's starting group.

“I see the starting lineup and I know the other guy across the bench,” he began. “It's easy for people to say, well, put the Sedins out there and it's deflated. I can't put our players at risk that way. With the lineup he had, I am not going to put those type of players at risk – and that's what ensues.

“I'm not proud of it. I've apologized to every one of the players involved in it. I don't feel great about it at all, especially for Lain. That's my biggest mistake, to put Lainer in that lineup, and I'll kick myself forever not having someone else there. But I'd do the same thing again if it came that way because I cannot put anybody else out there knowing what's going to happen and knowing the guy across the way.

“I thought my players responded tremendously. Listen, it shouldn't be in the game, that stuff. I don't want it in the game but I have to protect my team, too. So all the pundits and all the people pissing and moaning about it, they don't have a clue what a lockerroom is all about – and they don't understand the whole circumstance involved in that type of situation. So that's what went through my mind in that type of situation.”

The first-period idiocy continued as Zack Kassian picked up a double roughing minor and 10-minute misconduct – his fourth 10-minute misconduct in four games – while Alex Burrows, in his first game back after missing 20 with a broken jaw, also got into a roughing altercation with the Flames' Lee Stempniak.

At the conclusion of the first, Tortorella decided to pay a visit to the Flames and appeared in the hallway outside their room. He was seen being restrained by security personnel and members of the Calgary team. He was not ejected from the game but is expected to face some discipline from the league and is reportedly to attend a hearing Monday in New York.

“I have no idea what's going to happen,” said the Canuck coach. “I'm not speaking on that. I'm not going to go there. Please don't push me here. I've tried to be as honest as possible with that but I'm not going to go into the other stuff.”

Meanwhile, on the ice, the Canucks twice came back from one-goal deficits as Ryan Kesler, in the second period, and Weber, on a third-period power play, offset Flames tallies by Mark Giordano and Matt Stajan.

Canuck captain Henrik Sedin, who was nursing a suspected rib injury, played to keep his ironman streak alive at 679 consecutive games but didn't appear for the third period, an obvious indication that he either aggravated the injury, or shouldn't have played in the first place. His final stat line read 12:11 minutes played, two shots on goal and zero faceoffs taken. Henrik has also been playing with a sore left pinky finger.

“I told him to take his stuff off,” explained Tortorella. “He's a pro. He tried to do whatever he could to help us. But I had to tell him to take his stuff off.”

Luongo made his first start in two weeks after recovering from an ankle injury. He stopped 31 shoots prior to the shootout. Karri Ramo also stopped 31 for the Flames.

VANCOUVER. JANUARY 18 2014. Vancouver Caucks head coach John Tortorella gestures to Calgary Flames players on their bench in the first period of a regular season NHL hockey game at Rogers Arena, Vancouver January 18 2014.

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